Board 8 > Contest Stats and Discussion - Part 1000

(+) Yeah! (+)

until the inevitable Wind Waker match pic

--
http://i49.tinypic.com/anio39.gif

Most Attractive Character Contest
Pikachu vs Solid Snake
Sprite Round

Who wins?

--
Pokemon VGC2011 NW Regional - Top 8
Pokemon VGC2011 US Nationals - 54th place

Snake

Because I'm hoping the number of furries on GameFAQs is low.

--
http://images.cheezburger.com/completestore/2011/8/22/2094c2de-bae8-4f5b-9f27-67eaff0aaeaf.jpg

Pretty sure the number of furries on GameFAQs outnumbers the number of scat fans.

--
Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

I would hope we would avoid getting males and animals into a Most Attractive Character Contest to begin with...!

--
http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/2369/mythbattlers.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v516/Sensui22/1248835958206.png

Zelda would not win. Tifa would defeat her easily. Link, however, would win. "Most attractive character contest" doesn't mean "vote for the character you're most attracted to." Most people would probably use the standard, "most attractive to a typical member of the other sex," in which case, yes, Link will win.

--
90s games > 00s games

My prediction for the Noble Nine for such a contest:

1. Link
2. Cloud
3. Samus
4. Sephiroth
5. Snake
6. Tifa
7. Crono
8. Squall
9. Megaman

--
90s games > 00s games

Game of the Decade

Rock Band 2 vs. Deus X
LOL, not four matches into the contest, and we’re already playing the fools. Nearly everyone had Rock Band 2, the multi-million seller that carried a genre, and nearly everyone was wrong. Know why? That genre SUCKS.

Team Fortress 2 vs. Fable
Though many expected a decent showing from Fable, hardly anyone picked it to win. That turned out to be the right move, but not before Fable scared the crap out of everyone in the closest wire-to-wire match ever. In the end, TF2’s fanatical fanbase gave it the win by 37 measly votes, which I believe equals the margin of victory MGS shared over FFT, another classic from many years ago.

Halo 3 vs. Super Mario Sunshine
Pretty sure Ngamer got this one wrong

Marvel vs. Capcom 2 vs. New Super Mario Bros. Wii
New SMBWii sold millions upon millions and was actually pretty well received, but it didn’t matter. Voters let Nintendo know how they felt about the Wii by siding with one of the pillars of the fighting game genre. MvC2 picks up the upset win and delights fighting fans in the process.

Tales of Symphonia vs. God of War
This match started off close. Reeeal close. Try as they might, however, B8’s ToS enthusiasts could only watch as the sun rose and Kratos rode off with the win. Atop two lesbians and a flock of mythical Greek birds.

Golden Sun vs. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
What? GameFAQs is what? What a heinous accusation! Heck, we have a black friend!

*points to Barret*

Dead Rising vs. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4
Dead Rising had already endured a close match against another jRPG in The World Ends With You, but this one was even better. Persona 4 is a huge board favorite, and it staying in contention meant that ALL eyes were on this match. It stayed close all day, but in the final few evening hours, Persona gained the razor thin lead and kept it. Another of the closest wire-to-wire matches ever, enshrined with jokes, insults, and one Biolizard meltdown after another.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty vs. Shadow of the Colossus
Wow, this match. I think many expected a respectable SotC performance, but none expected a 12-hour tie, which is essentially what we got. For 12 solid hours, neither game budged an inch, and leads were traded like baseball cards. And then, in the ultimate irony, SotC surged to a final lead in the final two updates, doing to MGS what it had done to other hapless foes over the years. The board completely blew up.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves vs. Halo: Combat Evolved
Just hear to note the power of Halo’s day vote. This was 50/50 until the ASV, at which point Chief began moonwalking faster than ol’ Drake could sprint and do his stupid parkour bull****.

Kingdom Hearts II vs. Kingdom Hearts
Wow! Pure SFF matches are rarely, if ever, so good as this. B8 debated this match a lot, and when crunch time came, we were rewarded to a 50/50 affair, obviously the result of an EXTREMELY split fanbase. There is clearly no OoT or FFVII when it comes to Kingdom Hearts. The more recent game rode the ASV to a close and satisfying win.

--
Yoblazer: http://i32.tinypic.com/zlf1w7.gif
Watch and you'll see... someday I'll be... part of your world!

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots vs. Shadow of the Colossus
Wow, this contest. Almost the entire board logically assumed that MGS4 was stronger than 2, but SotC begged to differ. This was another close match against another MGS, but Wander and Agro weren’t in quite as much danger this time. They led by a few hundred and held that lead for 12 hours. MGS4 went from nearly making the finals in 2009 to bombing out in 2010. A huge disappointment. With the MGS series completed and fading from memory, I’m unsure if I’ll take a Metal Gear game in a debated match again.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask vs. Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal
The the THE most debated match of the contest. The Nintendo fanbase drew a line down the sand and took sides. I think I switched my bracket like half a dozen times. The results of 2009 gave us few answers and no reassurances. We just had to pick our poison and hope for the best. And that poison was Link. Because he always wins. Majora jumped out to the commanding lead and didn’t look back (for the entire contest!). There was soooo much *****ing in stats, it was beautiful. Majora was a hero to some, a villain to many, but dynamite in a can for everyone.

Super Smash Bros. Melee vs. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Arguably the most anticipated match since Mario vs. Cloud. I don’t care what anyone says or tries to tell you: every single Board 8er cared about this one. They either admitted it or went on lying to themselves, the pitiful fools. We devoted FOUR HOURS of live podcast to this thing. The podcast was filled to capacity for much of the night. People cared. And what happened? Well… **** this site.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater vs. Shadow of the Colossus
Snake (the nudist) says ENOUGH and puts an end to Wander’s MGS-slaying ways. However, SotC put up another great fight, and the result here was actually in doubt for a while. Shadow of the Colossus emerged as one of the stars of the contest.

Final Fantasy X vs. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
This was Nintendo vs. Square in a way we had not seen for years. No matter who you were, no matter what games you liked, no matter how long you had been here, you watched and enjoyed this match. Majora with the Power Hour lead. FFX with the strong comeback and lead build in the dead of night. FFX holding during the early day hours. Majora with the HUGE After School Vote comeback, at least partially bolstered by Zelda fan rallying (almost assuredly). Almost a decade after establishing themselves as rivals, this was Nintendo and Square in their purest forms. In the end, Majora’s Mask won the day, but I get the feeling both sides were in allied agreement on one thing: Brawl had to die.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl vs. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
And die Brawl did.

IT
ALWAYS
WINS
AND
THANK
GOD
FOR
THAT

--
Yoblazer: http://oi52.tinypic.com/ad21i1.jpg
Watch and you'll see... someday I'll be... part of your world!

From: red sox 777 | #456
"Most attractive character contest" doesn't mean "vote for the character you're most attracted to." Most people would probably use the standard, "most attractive to a typical member of the other sex," in which case, yes, Link will win.

I hope people really aren't this stupid. Or I hope you're being facetious because Squall clearly wins that contest if people vote that way.

--
http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/8516/whatisdesiresig.gif

Wow! Pure SFF matches are rarely, if ever, so good as this. B8 debated this match a lot, and when crunch time came, we were rewarded to a 50/50 affair, obviously the result of an EXTREMELY split fanbase. There is clearly no OoT or FFVII when it comes to Kingdom Hearts. The more recent game rode the ASV to a close and satisfying win.

Unforunately it led to Ulti doing a complete 180 degree turn on Melee/Brawl. It went from "lol Wii Melee is going to 60-40 Brawl" to "I concede, Brawl will win."

--
90s games > 00s games

The best (or worst) part about SotC's run is that I actually made the leaderboard for the new contest thing, and I went the entire stretch from MGS2/SOTC to MGS4/SOTC without missing.

And of course, SOTC ruined it both times.

--
http://i.imgur.com/CbfFb.jpg

I hope people really aren't this stupid. Or I hope you're being facetious because Squall clearly wins that contest if people vote that way.

How is that stupid? If the title of the contest is, "Most Attractive Character," it's logical to vote for the objectively most attractive character. Or course something like appearance isn't really objective, but it is in the sense that you can approach it from the angle of a typical person, rather than your individual angle. And I mean, it's beneath most people's dignity to vote for video game characters based on their personal attraction to them- as that requires them to be attracted to video game characters in the first place.

I do think Squall would do very well in such a contest.

--
90s games > 00s games

Link was picked as the hottest VG character by Gaygamer, so he clearly has supporters on this front. Hey, at least Seifer would finally make a contest!

Edit: Hmm. Upon researching, I think it was some random gay magazine that voted Link as the hottest. I remember reading a list on Gaygamer though.

--
"Ahem! There is *sand* on my *boot*!"--Kefka
Black Turtle beat me, Yesmar in the Fall 2010 Guru Contest!

This was Nintendo vs. Square in a way we had not seen for years. No matter who you were, no matter what games you liked, no matter how long you had been here, you watched and enjoyed this match. Majora with the Power Hour lead. FFX with the strong comeback and lead build in the dead of night. FFX holding during the early day hours. Majora with the HUGE After School Vote comeback, at least partially bolstered by Zelda fan rallying (almost assuredly). Almost a decade after establishing themselves as rivals, this was Nintendo and Square in their purest forms. In the end, Majora’s Mask won the day, but I get the feeling both sides were in allied agreement on one thing: Brawl had to die.

A beautiful match, classic Nintendo vs. Square indeed. And death to Brawl, as it should be.

--
90s games > 00s games

From: red sox 777 | #464
How is that stupid? If the title of the contest is, "Most Attractive Character," it's logical to vote for the objectively most attractive character.

Yes, to you.

Not to somebody else. This isn't a magazine. People aren't going to vote "objectively."

And I mean, it's beneath most people's dignity to vote for video game characters based on their personal attraction to them- as that requires them to be attracted to video game characters in the first place.

This is also pretty much wrong.

--
"I couldn't stand a day without a past or future. I need to live each moment to keep fighting here and now."

LeonhartFour posted...
From: red sox 777 | #456
"Most attractive character contest" doesn't mean "vote for the character you're most attracted to." Most people would probably use the standard, "most attractive to a typical member of the other sex," in which case, yes, Link will win.
I hope people really aren't this stupid. Or I hope you're being facetious because Squall clearly wins that contest if people vote that way.

If we're using that logic, Leon Kennedy (or someone in a similar vein like Nathan Drake or Gordon Freeman) should emerge victorious. But no, GameFAQs is going to continue to pick anime-inspired ridiculous designs. Bah.

(most FF characters don't actually look that bad in this department)

--
Currently Playing - StarCraft: Brood War

Just want to single out a few guys who don't really get their praises sung enough (by me included):

King Morgoth
Contest and board veteran. One of the greatest Oracle competitors of all time and one of the few people who "safeguard" the great Oracle contest, cuz the rest of us would assuredly **** it up. I admittedly haven't talked with him much over the years, but he's always been courteous and professional. A class act.

Kaxon
Curmudgeonly old man! Morgoth's partner in crime. Another longtime board and contest vet, and another terrific Oracle competitor. Kax heads the actual Oracle topic these days while Morgoth heads the site. I've spoken to Kaxon more throughout my years here, and he's an all-around great guy. Remember: the Oracle winner gets a free game. How cool is that! Thank Kax and Morgoth for that (I'm not sure who pitches in, so let's just say both do >_>).

Master Moltar
Creator and Host of The Analysis Crew, the finest bunch of blowhards to ever discuss a GameFAQs contest match. Moltar doesn't post here nearly as often as he should. It's a fact that saddens me at times, because he is absolutely one of the coolest and funniest guys here. Guy's cracked me up on many occasions. Hell of a Brawl player too. EW BRAWL EWWW

XCarvengerX
Habitual topic bummer, helper, and all-around nice guy. Carvey helps with the day-to-day operations of the Oracle and has helped with just about everything under the sun. Things wouldn't run nearly so smoothly during contest season if not for him.

Team Rocket Elite
I've heard it said that this site would explode if TRE left for five minutes. Now that I've had years to think about it... I think we're underselling him. I'm pretty sure my computer would explode.

--
Yoblazer: http://i44.tinypic.com/5nw45i.jpg
Watch and you'll see... someday I'll be... part of your world!

I wish Moltar would bring back the Brawl Fighting League.

--
http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/8718/leonflowchart.png

UltimaterializerX posted...
My logic on Ryu/Dante was "we've seen this already". Dumb logic, but it worked!

Mana did that package ever show up?

Yes! I thought I sent you a thank you e-mail.

And it looks like I didn't. I will rectify that immediately.

Ryu > Dante because Ryu won before worked for me as well!

--
If you are reading this signature, then you are wasting a great deal of your time.

Argh I picked Dante to win there after originally picking Ryu.

And then Street Fighter blindsided me in the games contest again with SFIV defeating SA2 (again, I picked it originally, then switched because of the board).

--
Currently Playing - StarCraft: Brood War

I didn't expect to make that list. Thanks!

--
Pokemon VGC2011 NW Regional - Top 8
Pokemon VGC2011 US Nationals - 54th place

Thanks for doing something cool with this historic topic guys, was fun to read!


--
thengamer.com/guru thengamer.com/xstats board8.wikia.com
You should search for The Show, the cool podcast featuring Guru Champ Black Turtle!

Way to show up at the very end, Ng. Now there aren't enough posts left for you to justify convincing everyone to pick Mario Sunshine.

--
Yoblazer: http://i32.tinypic.com/zlf1w7.gif
Watch and you'll see... someday I'll be... part of your world!

"Everyone?" I recall being on the Halo 3 bandwagon from near the beginning!

Also, I managed to come up with a list of contest matches I think are worth remembering and talking about. I know we talked about 100, but I came up with, uhhh...185, that are at least noteworthy in some way. I could trim the fat on some of that and get it down to like 150 with some honorable mentions here and there.

I've never really given my thoughts on my favorite contest matches, at least not in list form anyway. Would anyone actually be interested in it?

--
"The great GF...Bahamut."
"...GF? I...? Using my powers...It is you humans...I fear..."

Yes.

--
"Setsuna, you have to change. To make up for me... who didn't change." ~SCP~
http://img.imgcake.com/Jeffzeropngus.png

Also, keep in mind that the list will be extremely biased toward results I personally like! I'm not going to make any attempt to disguise this list as "objective!"

--
Support Otacon (Metal Gear Solid) for Character Battle IX!
http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/1950/banner4otacon.jpg

just in time

--
Virtue - "You don't need a reason to lynch people."

And lastly, I'd like to thank the two guys I consider the best stats posters ever. Leon and red sox*, 90s gaming and Squall forever. And Tidus, I guess.

*Man, these guys will talk about anything.

--
Yoblazer: http://i43.tinypic.com/25z1non.jpg
Watch and you'll see... someday I'll be... part of your world!

From: LeonhartFour | #478
Also, keep in mind that the list will be extremely biased toward results I personally like! I'm not going to make any attempt to disguise this list as "objective!"

That's quite fine.

--
"Setsuna, you have to change. To make up for me... who didn't change." ~SCP~
http://img.imgcake.com/Jeffzeropngus.png

From: PartOfYourWorld | #481
*Man, these guys will talk about anything.

This is so true.

But I appreciate the sentiment, yoblazer.

Most of my favorite Board 8 users are stats topic guys. I don't know if I'd still be here if not for you guys. I can honestly say that there's no better place to be during a good contest match than the stats topic. Most of my best contest memories are being in the stats topic when something crazy went down. This place has definitely helped make these contests more memorable and worthwhile than they would have otherwise been, whether we're talking about WDF, SFF, LFF, California ASV, BARRIERS, Hockey Factor, Picture Factor, KHF, TJF, LOL XSTATS, or any number of things.

We may have our arguments and disagreements, but I still love you guys.

--
"I couldn't stand a day without a past or future. I need to live each moment to keep fighting here and now."

No idea if you'll ever see this but thanks to solarshadow for starting the stats topic series. Who knows what Board 8 would be like if you didn't. It might even still have topicality if the first stats topic never got modded for off topic or it might not be around at all.

--
Pokemon VGC2011 NW Regional - Top 8
Pokemon VGC2011 US Nationals - 54th place

LeonhartFour posted...
Street Fighter was all over those Capcom characters that contest. Ryu > Dante and Leon, Ken > Wesker

And all was well.

I thought the Street Fighter boost was going to be stronger than it was that contest. Tatsunoko vs Capcom came out near the beginning of the contest and Super Street Fighter 4 was due to come out a month after the contest.

--
-Heals severely dry skin -18 hour moisturization -Fragrance free -With Vitamin E

Indeed, many thanks to solarshadow for putting a great thing in motion.

I'd also like to extend a big thanks to creativename and the outstanding gamefaqscontests.com he has helped run over the years. The Match Updater has been one of the handiest things for these contests anyone's come up with.

--
http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/8718/leonflowchart.png

Yeah, definitely can't forget creativename. The poll update tracker definitely makes things a lot easier compared to manually recording updates in the past.

--
Pokemon VGC2011 NW Regional - Top 8
Pokemon VGC2011 US Nationals - 54th place

Also, many thanks to Ulti for all the contest related things he's done, including his annual PCA and all the character pages he's done (first on MMX's old site and now on the Board 8 wiki).

Thanks to Slowflake for inspiring the Oracle Challenge, for being the most boring bracket prediction guy ever, for calling matches before they were over and making them exciting again, among other things.

Thanks to Ngamer and TRE for helping archive and host the old stats topics. Thanks to Ngamer for our handy-dandy LOL XSTATS generator, and also big thanks for coming up with The Show podcast for contest discussion. It's become one of the things I look forward to most with a new contest now.

Thanks to Lopen for being generally wacky and entertaining.

Thanks to EC and the other Guru winners who made us nominate someone worth a crap with his Guru nom and not Toadette. For the guy who made us nominate Toadette, I hope you never get another contest match right the rest of your life.

Thanks to all of the guys who've put up with me being cantankerous, pushy, overconfident, condescending, close-minded, and many other things, and for still liking me anyway!

--
"The great GF...Bahamut."
"...GF? I...? Using my powers...It is you humans...I fear..."

Man, Leon is one cantankerous, pushy, overconfident, condescending, close-minded awesome user

--
"Setsuna, you have to change. To make up for me... who didn't change." ~SCP~
http://img.imgcake.com/Jeffzeropngus.png

Hey, I do what I can with what I've been given.

--
Support Seifer Almasy (Final Fantasy VIII) for Character Battle IX!
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/9342/banner3seifer.jpg

Contests Stats and Discussion: The Book (Topics 1-1000)

TIME TO FIND A PUBLISHER THEN

--
Yoblazer: http://i44.tinypic.com/5nw45i.jpg
Watch and you'll see... someday I'll be... part of your world!

creativename- The best contest predictor, he came up with the x-stats and advanced this topic to a new level for the statistical analysis of these contests. He also runs the contest sites, with the ever-useful poll update tracker.

Though the poll update tracker is only for contest matches. If I could build my own poll update tracker that could track any poll (not just contest matches), I would definitely do that. But for now, I'm stuck tracking poll updates through a combination of automatically downloading (on a periodic basis, about every 60 seconds) the poll results page to my computer and then having to manually input the vote totals into a spreadsheet.

--
Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~
Popular at school, but not as cool as BlAcK TuRtLe, Guru Champ!

Some credits:

LMS- I know everyone thinks his posts are pointless, but he did inspire my 4-way votal-stats inadvertently.

MWC- One of the most entertaining posters here, despite his hatred of Boston and its sports teams. I'm glad he doesn't want me dead just for being from New England.

NGamer- Runs a lot of our most important contest projects, such as the Guru and the Show.

Leon- Possibly the backbone of discussion in these topics, always ready to discuss contest stuff.

creativename- The best contest predictor, he came up with the x-stats and advanced this topic to a new level for the statistical analysis of these contests. He also runs the contest sites, with the ever-useful poll update tracker.

Yoblazer- Also a really good predictor, but coming from a more qualitative/intuitive approach.

solarshadow- Hopefully you'll read this topic and see how far your topic has come! Half a million posts. If the average post contains 50 words, that's 25 million words, which translates to something like 80,000 pages in a typical-sized book.

EC- For fighting the good fight for Samus when everyone was against him. You've convinced me- Samus > Mario indirectly since 2008 at least, and Samus > Sephiroth next year!

Slowflake- Sheparded this topic from its infancy into the fast-moving river of discussion it became. Slowflake also more or less personified the conservative, consensus, default, opinions of the topic.

Ulti- Our Spring 2004 winner and the creator of the vast majority of stats topics. But I disagree with you on one major point: Stats > Common Sense, any day of the week.

Chichiri- Always loved a good, agressive, debate.

MWIS- I don't think MWIS actually posted very much in the stats topic, but he has the greatest ideas for board projects. The original concept of Mercenaries was absolutely brilliant, though it later got pulled into a deep morass when the simplicity of its rules were discarded.

Harrich- Fourpacks are fun- it's 3 matches for only 4 characters, and the variations aren't too complicated to consider, as they would be with larger packs.

Yesmar- Had differences of opinion with many in this topic especially Ulti, but different perspectives are good. I do like your contest opinions much more than your political ones though.

Albion- What kind of Chrono Trigger fan are you, who actively roots for Crono to lose to the likes of Yoshi? If at first Crono doesn't succeed, you're supposed to come back the next year and put all your hopes on him again. And again. And again!

Karma Hunter- I think Snake's 2006-2010 run was a huge success.

Heroic Mario- I liked the old Heroic Mario much better, the one who constantly changed his opinions and started impossibly unlikely upset trains.

Lopen- Always one of the last eliminated from the Guru. Cutting cookies is for.....well the Guru cookie is usually pretty good, but it's still a mark of character to take upsets!

--
90s games > 00s games

Wanted to also say thanks to everyone who has argued matches here and the guys who come up with lol x stats, and everyone who maintains the wiki.

100% of me winning is thanks to all you guys, and should give hope to others that anyone can win these contests as long as they take advantage of the dozens of resources so graciously offered.

PS we all know my guru nom was the best : )

--
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/4839/drfc.png
http://img.imgcake.com/drfootballpngru.png

CSAD would actually be pretty nice to have in book form, except that it'd come in volumes like the Encyclopedia Britannica and fill a bookshelf by itself. Maybe if we cut out the hundreds of one-liners we get in close matches, and all the posts showing the early returns when people voted. Then again, those posts actually wouldn't take up all that much space in a physical book, because there's not as much text in them, so even if we only included actual discussion, it would still be pretty colossal.

--
90s games > 00s games

Hey I'm a Chrono Trigger fan who doesn't care a whole lot for Crono himself.

Magus is where it's at! Too bad GameFAQs doesn't know better...

--
Currently Playing - StarCraft: Brood War

Some shout-outs of my own before #1000 shuts down:

Yoblazer, Harrich, TRE - For being some of the straight-up coolest dudes here.
Ulti - For bringing some awesome contest analyses to the table, as well as brilliant comedy.
Leon - For being one of the best debaters in the topic. Also, for putting up with my various Boscopinions.
creativename, NGamer - For contributing to GameFAQs contests in a very big way, and for just being ballin' in general.
red sox - For your unabashed support of Crono. Seriously, it's kind of heartwarming. :P
Luster - For being the single funniest user in GameFAQs history. Yes, even funnier than Ulti!

Everyone here, though, has played a part in making this topic series a blast. It's been awesome talking to y'all!

--
Nominate Tallahassee (Zombieland) for the BFC!
"You know what they call Twinkies in Mexico? Los Submarinos!"

Crono is Albion's favorite character. He wanted to see Yoshi > Crono because he wanted chaos and upsets to happen, and he'd given up on Crono being the one to win upsets.

--
90s games > 00s games

It's been real.

--
"Setsuna, you have to change. To make up for me... who didn't change." ~SCP~
http://img.imgcake.com/Jeffzeropngus.png

--
Yoblazer: http://i33.tinypic.com/ml36gl_th.gif
Watch and you'll see... someday I'll be... part of your world!

1. Squall vs Luigi

--
Pokemon VGC2011 NW Regional - Top 8
Pokemon VGC2011 US Nationals - 54th place